solar powered street lights are full of electronics.
The solar panel converts the sun's energy to dc electricity.
Voltage is then regulated to a specific value by an electronic circuit to charge the battery.
A solar controller protects the battery from too low and over charge.
Now for the lighting. Contrary to LEDs, HID and CF lamps require a high voltage, particular current, and frequency to work. It is the ballast's task to feed the lamp properly.
We now need to control the lamp. To do so, a timer or photocell does the job of switching the light from dusk to dawn. On some advanced solar powered street lights models, intensity and color can even be adjusted.
Published in2008-1-12 |
